Uncover the Toxic Connection Between Drugs and Jihad

Clarion Project

By Elliot Friedland

The path from drug addict to religious fundamentalist is a well-trodden one. In the late 1960s through the seventies the movement dubbed as the ‘Jesus Freaks’ abandoned flower power for the Prince of Peace, helped on their way by joints and LSD. The Jewish corollary saw Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach bring hippies into the fold through his “House of Love and Prayer.”

Although most of these teenagers grew out of it, many were inducted into Christian cults like the Children of God, also known as The Family, where sexual abuse and brainwashing abounded.

Jihadism is no different and although many jihadi recruits have not experimented with mind altering substances, there is a strong component which has. We are not talking here about the well-documented financial and paramilitary connections between terrorist groups and drug cartels, although as investigative journalist Don Winslow, who has covered drug cartels and terrorism for 15 years writes “our drug policies have driven these groups into each other’s bloodstained arms.”

We’re talking about terrorists who take drugs. So what is the connection?